# Chef client installation

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [April 26, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173 "2009-04-26T02:57:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![snacktime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@snacktime](https://discourse.chef.io/u/snacktime)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173/1 "2009-04-26T02:57:43Z")

</div>

Still working on it, but at first glance the chef client installation as  
documented on the wiki is not working correctly. It installs the server  
even when specifying chef::client, chef path is not set to /srv/chef as the  
default as stated in the readme, and the file mode in the recipe is a  
string, chef seems to expect an integer. The recipes also assume that all  
the gem binaries are in /usr/bin.

This is version 0.5.6.

Chris

---

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**Author:** ![AJ\_Christensen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/aj_christensen/32/525_2.png) [@AJ\_Christensen](https://discourse.chef.io/u/AJ_Christensen)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173/2 "2009-04-26T03:01:12Z")

</div>

I believe Josh is working through some changes on the wiki for the  
upcoming 0.6 release (which can be tested as 0.5.7), so this  
information may not necessarily be "in sync".

Regards,

AJ

On 26/04/2009, at 2:57 PM, snacktime wrote:

> Still working on it, but at first glance the chef client  
> installation as documented on the wiki is not working correctly. It  
> installs the server even when specifying chef::client, chef path is  
> not set to /srv/chef as the default as stated in the readme, and the  
> file mode in the recipe is a string, chef seems to expect an  
> integer. The recipes also assume that all the gem binaries are in /  
> usr/bin.
> 
> This is version 0.5.6.
> 
> Chris

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![snacktime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@snacktime](https://discourse.chef.io/u/snacktime)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173/3 "2009-04-26T03:09:07Z")

</div>

Ya 0.5.7 looks like what I should be testing with, as the installation stuff  
looks quite a bit more complete.

On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Arjuna Christensen [aj@junglist.gen.nz](mailto:aj@junglist.gen.nz)wrote:

> I believe Josh is working through some changes on the wiki for the upcoming  
> 0.6 release (which can be tested as 0.5.7), so this information may not  
> necessarily be "in sync".
> 
> Regards,
> 
> AJ
> 
> On 26/04/2009, at 2:57 PM, snacktime wrote:
> 
> Still working on it, but at first glance the chef client installation as
> 
> > documented on the wiki is not working correctly. It installs the server  
> > even when specifying chef::client, chef path is not set to /srv/chef as the  
> > default as stated in the readme, and the file mode in the recipe is a  
> > string, chef seems to expect an integer. The recipes also assume that all  
> > the gem binaries are in /usr/bin.
> > 
> > This is version 0.5.6.
> > 
> > Chris

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joshua\_Timberman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/joshua_timberman/32/424_2.png) [@Joshua\_Timberman](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Joshua_Timberman)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173/4 "2009-04-26T05:55:42Z")

</div>

Hello Chris,

First, I apologize for any confusion and inconvenience.

I've updated the "Installing Chef from HEAD" page to reflect changes  
that 0.5.7 brings.

[http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installing+Chef+from+HEAD](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installing+Chef+from+HEAD)

The bootstrap-0.5.6.tar.gz cookbook bundle doesn't configure clients,  
just server. Version 32 [1] of the main Installation page describes  
how to install using the older method. Do note that the 0.5.6 version  
will start Chef Server as a runit service, and 0.5.7+ will run Chef  
Server as a Rack app under Passenger+Apache. Also, we have a page that  
describes how to switch from a runit-based chef-server to Passenger [2].

We think the new procedure is better, as fronting chef-server with  
Apache+Passenger allows stronger security control.

[1] Version 32 page: \<[http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1835069](http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1835069)

> 

[2] \<[http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/How+to+Convert+chef-server+from+runit+to+Passenger](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/How+to+Convert+chef-server+from+runit+to+Passenger)

> 

On Apr 25, 2009, at 9:09 PM, snacktime wrote:

> Ya 0.5.7 looks like what I should be testing with, as the  
> installation stuff looks quite a bit more complete.
> 
> On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Arjuna Christensen \<aj@junglist.gen.nz
> 
> > wrote:  
> > I believe Josh is working through some changes on the wiki for the  
> > upcoming 0.6 release (which can be tested as 0.5.7), so this  
> > information may not necessarily be "in sync".
> 
> Regards,
> 
> AJ
> 
> On 26/04/2009, at 2:57 PM, snacktime wrote:
> 
> Still working on it, but at first glance the chef client  
> installation as documented on the wiki is not working correctly. It  
> installs the server even when specifying chef::client, chef path is  
> not set to /srv/chef as the default as stated in the readme, and the  
> file mode in the recipe is a string, chef seems to expect an  
> integer. The recipes also assume that all the gem binaries are in /  
> usr/bin.
> 
> This is version 0.5.6.
> 
> Chris

--  
Joshua Timberman | [www.opscode.com](http://www.opscode.com)  
[joshua@opscode.com](mailto:joshua@opscode.com) | 720.878.4322

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![snacktime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@snacktime](https://discourse.chef.io/u/snacktime)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173/5 "2009-04-26T10:07:26Z")

</div>

So I've been playing with the 0.5.7 bundle. Not sure how to handle the gem  
installation correctly, as it can't find the 0.5.7 version. Since I wanted  
a custom installation bundle anyways I just took the 0.5.7 bundle cookbooks  
and put them in my own solo bundle, along with the 0.5.7 gem which I install  
before running chef-solo.

The only bug I've ran across so far is that runit attributes/sv\_bin.rb  
defines the location of sv, but I think that's happening before runit is  
installed because it's in the attributes, so the symlinking of chef-client  
to /etc/init.d/chef-client fails. I moved the definition to  
definitions/runit\_service.rb and that works.

On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 10:55 PM, Joshua Timberman [joshua@opscode.com](mailto:joshua@opscode.com)wrote:

> Hello Chris,
> 
> First, I apologize for any confusion and inconvenience.
> 
> I've updated the "Installing Chef from HEAD" page to reflect changes that  
> 0.5.7 brings.
> 
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installing+Chef+from+HEAD](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installing+Chef+from+HEAD)
> 
> The bootstrap-0.5.6.tar.gz cookbook bundle doesn't configure clients, just  
> server. Version 32 [1] of the main Installation page describes how to  
> install using the older method. Do note that the 0.5.6 version will start  
> Chef Server as a runit service, and 0.5.7+ will run Chef Server as a Rack  
> app under Passenger+Apache. Also, we have a page that describes how to  
> switch from a runit-based chef-server to Passenger [2].
> 
> We think the new procedure is better, as fronting chef-server with  
> Apache+Passenger allows stronger security control.
> 
> [1] Version 32 page: \<  
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1835069](http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1835069)\>  
> [2] \<  
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/How+to+Convert+chef-server+from+runit+to+Passenger](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/How+to+Convert+chef-server+from+runit+to+Passenger)
> 
> > 
> 
> On Apr 25, 2009, at 9:09 PM, snacktime wrote:
> 
> Ya 0.5.7 looks like what I should be testing with, as the installation
> 
> > stuff looks quite a bit more complete.
> > 
> > On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Arjuna Christensen [aj@junglist.gen.nz](mailto:aj@junglist.gen.nz)  
> > wrote:  
> > I believe Josh is working through some changes on the wiki for the  
> > upcoming 0.6 release (which can be tested as 0.5.7), so this information may  
> > not necessarily be "in sync".
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > AJ
> > 
> > On 26/04/2009, at 2:57 PM, snacktime wrote:
> > 
> > Still working on it, but at first glance the chef client installation as  
> > documented on the wiki is not working correctly. It installs the server  
> > even when specifying chef::client, chef path is not set to /srv/chef as the  
> > default as stated in the readme, and the file mode in the recipe is a  
> > string, chef seems to expect an integer. The recipes also assume that all  
> > the gem binaries are in /usr/bin.
> > 
> > This is version 0.5.6.
> > 
> > Chris
> 
> --  
> Joshua Timberman | [www.opscode.com](http://www.opscode.com)  
> [joshua@opscode.com](mailto:joshua@opscode.com) | 720.878.4322

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ian\_Kallen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ac8455/32.png) [@Ian\_Kallen](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Ian_Kallen)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/chef-client-installation/1173/6 "2009-04-26T17:00:09Z")

</div>

Ah, new installation method looks cool . I'll spin up a new  
chef server with it (will need to adapt your procedure for the  
CentOS-on-EC2 and VMware environments I've been dealing with) and,  
provided it doesn't have the problem I had with Apache w/ssl+proxy +  
runit wrt OpenID, I'll close [http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-236](http://tickets.opscode.com/browse/CHEF-236)  
-Ian

Joshua Timberman wrote:

> Hello Chris,
> 
> First, I apologize for any confusion and inconvenience.
> 
> I've updated the "Installing Chef from HEAD" page to reflect changes  
> that 0.5.7 brings.
> 
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installing+Chef+from+HEAD](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/Installing+Chef+from+HEAD)
> 
> The bootstrap-0.5.6.tar.gz cookbook bundle doesn't configure clients,  
> just server. Version 32 [1] of the main Installation page describes  
> how to install using the older method. Do note that the 0.5.6 version  
> will start Chef Server as a runit service, and 0.5.7+ will run Chef  
> Server as a Rack app under Passenger+Apache. Also, we have a page that  
> describes how to switch from a runit-based chef-server to Passenger [2].
> 
> We think the new procedure is better, as fronting chef-server with  
> Apache+Passenger allows stronger security control.
> 
> [1] Version 32 page:  
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1835069](http://wiki.opscode.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1835069)  
> [2]  
> [http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/How+to+Convert+chef-server+from+runit+to+Passenger](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/How+to+Convert+chef-server+from+runit+to+Passenger)
> 
> On Apr 25, 2009, at 9:09 PM, snacktime wrote:
> 
> > Ya 0.5.7 looks like what I should be testing with, as the  
> > installation stuff looks quite a bit more complete.
> > 
> > On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Arjuna Christensen  
> > [aj@junglist.gen.nz](mailto:aj@junglist.gen.nz) wrote:  
> > I believe Josh is working through some changes on the wiki for the  
> > upcoming 0.6 release (which can be tested as 0.5.7), so this  
> > information may not necessarily be "in sync".
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > AJ
> > 
> > On 26/04/2009, at 2:57 PM, snacktime wrote:
> > 
> > Still working on it, but at first glance the chef client installation  
> > as documented on the wiki is not working correctly. It installs the  
> > server even when specifying chef::client, chef path is not set to  
> > /srv/chef as the default as stated in the readme, and the file mode  
> > in the recipe is a string, chef seems to expect an integer. The  
> > recipes also assume that all the gem binaries are in /usr/bin.
> > 
> > This is version 0.5.6.
> > 
> > Chris

--  
Ian Kallen  
blog: [What's That Noise?! [Ian Kallen's Weblog]](http://www.arachna.com/roller/spidaman)  
tweetz: [http://twitter.com/spidaman](http://twitter.com/spidaman)  
vox: 415.505.5208